I’ll never forget the moment when I was standing in with Reggie Nious at the Ebenezer Coffee Shop, 201 F. Street Washington, D.C. My wife was pregnant with our first child. Reggie and his wife were also expected their first and they just had the doctor’s appointment that revealed the sex of the baby. Now this was before gender reveal parties and social media and before texting really was a thing so friends would meet face to face to talk to one another about their lives. Ellen and I had not yet had the “gender reveal” appointment and the pregnancy process was all new and exciting for us. Reggie told me that they were having a girl and when he did something happened in my spirit. I cannot fully explain it, but at that moment I knew I was going to have a precious baby girl. That moment made my heart leap and began to prepare me for a life raising a daughter. I now have two precious daughters and my wife can attest that both of them have me wrapped around their fingers. We have had plenty of conversations that end with my wife rolling her eyes and saying, “Mmmhmm…that girl has your number.”
Daughters are precious to their fathers. Granddaughters are precious to their grandfathers. Wives are precious to their husbands. Or at least they should be. We know in a fallen world that does not always happen, but it should. But even in a fallen world, we know for sure that women are precious to God. One of my jobs as a father is to make my girls feel precious and secure and valued and loved. The love of a father to a daughter is meant to prepare a daughter to know love from husband. If daughters have been loved well, then they should be able to spot love in a future husband and to know they will be valued, loved, and treated as precious. I want my daughters to know they are one of God’s precious children and they are loved.
Likewise, the love of father to his children is meant to emulate and point to God’s love for his children. The children of God form the church, the bride of Christ. Jesus demonstrated his love for the church in laying his life down for her. He purchased the church with his own blood. The church is infinitely valuable in God’s eyes. The church should be nourished and cherished as the precious bride of Christ. We should not speak ill of the church for the church is God’s precious lady. One of the reasons God commands the church to love one another is that he wants his bride to be treated as precious. He wants the church to feel secure and valued and loved. As a father loves his daughters and wants his daughters to be precious, God wants his bride to be loved and wants her to be loved well.
The Elder John writes a second letter that has been preserved by the Holy Spirit as sacred Scripture to remind the bride of Christ to be loved and loved well by being loved in truth. Love and truth wedded together as husband and wife in his short letter. If there is no truth, then there is no love. If there is no love, then there is no truth. God’s precious lady is loved in truth by those who love the truth. I pray that we would love God’s precious lady in truth and show the world that she is precious and valuable which in turn would give a glimpse to the world of God’s precious love in Christ.
The Elect Lady
The letter begins with no clear name attached, but simply written as the elder. The Apostle John was known as the elder and church history affirms that John was the elder writing to the elect lady and her children. It is near unanimous that John wrote this letter, but it is less unanimous on who the elect lady and her children are. Some believe that John was writing to a specific woman and her children, but I believe it is more probable that the elect lady is referring to a local congregation. Most of 2 John is written in a second-person plural you all or y’all speaking to a group. John’s repeated exhortations to love one another fit more in the context of a local church than a charge to a specific woman. Church in the Greek, ekklesia is feminine, and John refers to the church as the bride of Christ several times in the last two chapters of Revelation. Also, the Greek word for lady, kyria, was used to represent a social subunit in the Greek city state making it common in representing a group and not an individual.
Elder was a common term for pastoral leaders of local congregations. The Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter, “1 Peter 5:1–3,
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: [2] shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;[3] not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Elders were examples to the flock as godly, fatherly examples to the flock. John refers to himself as an elder to assume his fatherly, pastoral role in the church. We have already seen through the first epistle how often he refers to the church as his children. Elders should have a fatherly love to the flock.
I have the privilege to talk to many young men who are pursuing the pastorate. They feel called by God to teach and preach and to lead a congregation, but I rarely hear them begin with, “I just want to love and shepherd a people.” If you don’t love people, you should not be an elder pastor. By God’s grace, the Lord has given me and my fellow elders, a deep love for this church. We do not love perfectly but we are striving to love well. If you desire to be an elder, grow in your love for the truth and for the bride of Christ. Both are essential because that is what you want to see grow in the people. If you do not love the bride and the truth, how can you be an example to the flock?
John also gives a specific description to this lady calling her the “elect lady.” The word elect means chosen, singled out, set apart. God chose or elected people from the world to be part of his church. I believe the clear teaching of Scripture teaches that God chooses who he sets his love in salvation. It begins with God choosing Abraham and his seed to be the promised blessing to all the families of the earth. It continues with God choosing Israel, Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” And continues with his church, Ephesians 1:3-6,
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
The God’s election is not controversial in the Bible, but it is celebrated. Paul speaks of the partial hardening of Israel against God’s Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah, he writes in Romans 11:28–29
[28] As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. [29] For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable…[33] Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
[34] “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
[35] “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
[36] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Peter calls the church the chosen race and in Revelation John writes of the those who will be persecuted by the Antichrist because they are with the Lamb, Revelation 17:14, “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” The word elect was not meant to stir controversy but rather comfort and praise.
We should be comforted that God has chosen us. If God has chosen us, if he began a good work in us, then he will complete it. We belong to him. We are in our Father’s hand and no one can snatch us out. Remember John is writing to a church under attack. They are in danger of false teachers and false professors, but those who are in the truth, who belong to Christ, are chosen by him and will never be forsaken. If we lose the doctrine of election, we lose comfort; we lose security; we lose God’s sovereign power.
I recently spoke to a young bride-to-be encouraging her to remember that her husband-to-be has chosen her. She is his beloved, his precious bride. You are God’s chosen. You are his beloved, his precious bride. He has set his love on you before the foundation of the world. For all who are with the Lamb are called, chosen and faithful. Do not lose the beauty and the power of being God’s chosen. It has been an encouragement throughout the history of God’s people to be known as his chosen. Isaiah 44:1–2
[1] “But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!
[2] Thus says the LORD who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun [upright one] whom I have chosen.
We do not have fear because God will help us because we are his chosen. We are of his elect lady, his bride. Do not forfeit this comfort by getting into a theological debate. We can have the conversation between God’s election and God’s free will, but not let it steal your comfort.
The Loving Truthful Lady
There are two other markers that John uses to define the church in these opening verses. The church is the Loving, Truthful Lady. I had initially thought to separate these two descriptors as separate words, but after I do not think that is wise for John doesn’t separate them. 2 John 1–3
[1] The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, [2] because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: [3] Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
Why is it so important for our day not to separate these words? Because our culture has made these words enemies of one another. Love in our culture is the highest virtue, but it is not the love of the Scripture. It is a twisted and perverted view of love. When I say love one another, I am saying love one another in truth. Love one another with the love that is in accord with godliness. Love one another in holiness and righteousness. Love one another by encouraging each other to live according to God’s commands.
Our culture wants you to love according to a false standard. The worldly idea of love is to allow me to live as I want to live. The cultural demand is to “love me for me.” Our culture wants the right to live any which way they want to express who they want to be without any challenge or correction. The love of our culture is all accepting, never confronting, just let me be me. You are a pirahia, despised and rejected, when you say what someone else is doing is wrong. The cultural elite raise their voice in disdain, “How dare you tell someone else that what they want to do and how they want to live and who they want to love is wrong?” We dare because love is never absent of truth. We always love in truth. Truth is our barometer of love. If someone is working outside of the truth then they are walking outside of God’s love. You cannot have God’s love without truth as you cannot have God’s truth without love. People may use the word love, but it is not love if there is no truth.
Love and truth are wedded together. And this is the reason John wrote this letter. He wrote to the church so that they would be a church that loves one another in truth. As we will later in this letter, there are some that deny the true and are deceiving the bride of Christ. John writes to comfort the church and exhort them to remain in God’s truth and love. You cannot separate the two. One of the reasons that we make the Word of God central in our public gatherings and our classes is that the truth comes from God’s Word. God is true. His Word is true and we cannot learn how to love about from the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And Jesus is love and he demonstrated his love for us by laying down his life for us so that we may lay down our lives for the brothers. When we come to Christ, we lay down our main allegiance to be loved by others. We do not live for the approval or the love of others, but of God our Savior. Galatians 1:10, “Galatians 1:10, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” If you try to please man, you will not really love them. You may make them happy, you may make them like you, but you also may lead them to eternal ruin. If we love without truth, we are outside of God’s love. God’s love is always in truth. We always speak the truth in love. Our words are going to offend. We work to have our words be kind, gracious, seasoned with salt, but if there is no truth with our words, then there is no love. Love and truth is how the church is called, what it is called to and how it is called to live.
And yet we cannot go too far and speak truth without love. God cares about the words that we speak and in the manner in which we speak. We cannot separate the two. The truth that abides in us is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ made known to us by the Holy Spirit. Believers have the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of love. The fruit of the Spirit of Truth, “ is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal 5:22-23) We cannot only be known for our truth, but also for the manner in how we share and live out the truth. Is our truth gentle? Is our truth patient? Do we speak truth with kindness? Do we express self-control in how and when we speak the truth? If we are a people of truth, we will also be known as a people of love. But our love will never be like the world’s love. Church, let us love in truth and love.
Friend, if you are not a follow of Christ, let me say that God’s love is all accepting. God will accept anyone if they come to him through Jesus Christ. The truth is that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The truth is that everyone deserves hell and damnation because of their sin. One sin separates us from God and places us under his wrath. God did not leave us in our sin, but sent his one and only Son to rescue from our sin. He lived a perfect life and died a sinner death. He is the way and the truth and the life. He offered his life for all who would turn from worldly love of self to a truth-filled love of God. After Jesus died, God showed the world that he was the way out of the grave through his resurrection from the dead. His resurrection is proof that God’s love is all accepting for anyone who comes to Jesus Christ in faith. For all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Friend, real, lasting love is always according to the truth. My friends who won’t tell me the truth aren’t really friends. True friends and true brothers and sisters will tell me the truth in love. And as a friend, let me tell you the truth in love, all who know the Son as Savior have eternal life and all who do not believe in Jesus do not have eternal life. God will accept anyone regardless of what you have done, if you come to him through Christ. Come today and be accepted in love and truth.
The Joyful Lady
We do not know exactly how much time has passed from John’s first letter or how long he has known this particular congregation, but we do know John’s joy is connected to this church’s love for truth. 2 John 4 “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.” Before John turns to the warning and admonishment, he begins with encouragement and joy. John rejoices greatly to learn that some of the church is walking in the truth. There may be those who read some negativity in John’s use of the word some as he is rejoicing in some who are walking in the truth knowing others are not. I would not necessarily read any negativity here. He is trying to be positive and encouraging as he begins his letter to rejoice in how some are walking in the truth. To walk in the truth is to walk according to God’s Word and his standards in a way that pleases him.
As an elder, I experience this often in his church. I rejoice greatly of the “some” in our church who are walking in the church. That does not mean to imply that others are not walking in the truth but that I know of some who are. For example, I rejoice greatly when I learn how some of the Park is sharing the gospel regularly with non-believers. I rejoice greatly when I learn how some of you are sacrificing time and money to care for our members in need. I rejoice greatly to see some confessing sin and returning to the truth. I rejoice greatly to hear of children having conversations with their parents about the gospel. I rejoice greatly when I hear how some are giving time and talent to care for our facility, improve our technology and our grounds. I rejoice greatly how some are growing in their love Park through serving in music. I rejoice greatly when I see members discussing deep theology and loving their spouses well and welcoming visitors. The some that I am referring to are not just members of the body but my brothers and sisters who I know and love. I cannot quantify how much joy this church has given me in the last 8 ¾ years. I feel so privileged to pastor this church full of people walking in the truth.
I pray that you have my same joy. Look for the evidence of grace in our body. Rejoice in what God is doing. Train your eyes to see God’s grace in your children and spouse and in this body. Rejoice greatly when you see evidence of God’s glorious grace worked out in people’s lives. Joy in God’s grace in others will help us be a people of love and truth.
The Abiding Lady
After the brief introduction, John moves to the heart of the letter by making his appeal, 2 John 5-6,
[5] And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. [6] And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
Similar themes as we saw in his first epistle. We are called to love one another. We are called to love one in truth. John defines love, “and this is love, that we walk according to his commandments.” When we obey Jesus and the truth revealed in God’s word we are loving one another. When we love, it is not a burden or an obligation, but a delight. God’s commands are not burdensome. We should rejoice not only when we see others walking in the truth, but in our own lives. Rejoice that we have the privilege to walk with Christ. To walk with Christ is to abide with Christ.
John comes to the church in his fatherly, pastoral tone, “dear lady.” Dear, precious, chosen lady, continue in love and truth. As we will see John is concerned with the truth because there are many deceivers and false teachers and false ideologies that will come at them to attempt to destroy their faith. There are two primary ways that we can help people abide with the Lord. We can warn them which John will do later in this letter or you can encourage them. John begins with encouragement. He reminds them of the truth that abides in us and that will be with us forever. He reminds the truth that they are walking in the truth and love. He reminds them that they are loved by him and by all those who know Christ Jesus.
William Arthur Ward wrote, “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” I do not think we realize how powerful words of encouragement can be to push people to Christ especially our children. Karl Bath was one of the most well known and respected theologians of the 20th century. In 1962 after finishing lecture at the University of Chicago, a student asked him during the Q &A time if he could summarize his whole life’s work in theology in a sentence. He responded, “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
John begins with the same reminder. He speaks as a father to his precious children. He begins with love and truth. He reminds that Jesus loves them and abides with them forever. He reminds them that they are loved, valued and precious. Let me encourage you as I close that you are loved, you are valued and you are precious in God’s sight. Jesus loves you, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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